Mac Vs PC Ads: iCreate Caught In YouTube Crossfire

You may remember our comments regarding Microsoft’s “Laptop Hunter” ad campaign (link) when they first launched, featuring “Lauren” dashing around trying to buy an enormous PC laptop for under $1000.

Of course, after an unanswered run of PC-bashing adverts from Apple, Microsoft deserved a chance to hit back and duly did as the red-haired laptop shopper dismissed the Apple store in a matter of seconds claiming she wasn’t “cool enough” to be a Mac person and also couldn’t afford Apple’s 17-inch laptop.

The series of Microsoft ads have continued featuring Matt & Olivia, Sheila, Lisa and Jackson, another Lauren and her mum… the list goes on.

Apple finally responded with a new Get A Mac ad featuring the Mac and PC characters which spun Microsoft’s “find your perfect model” theme. The ad ends with the shopper featured picking a Mac after none of the PC models can meet her criteria -“no crashes, viruses or headaches”. A clever take on the the same Mac Vs PC formula but the Microsoft ads still continue.

By retaliating, Apple has acknowledged the adverts of its rival and appeared almost rattled, especially if the following is true. Microsoft COO, Kevin Turner relayed the following information at the company’s Worldwide Partner Conference (excuse the grammar, it’s him not us):

“And so we’ve been running these PC value ads… Those are completely unscripted commercials. And you know why I know they’re working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, hey — this is a true story — saying, “Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices.” They took like $100 off or something. It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I’ve ever taken in business.

I did cartwheels down the hallway. At first I said, “Is this a joke? Who are you?” Not understanding what an opportunity. And so we’re just going to keep running them and running them and running them.”

How much of this story is true, we don’t know. What we do know, however, is the fierce back and forth banter on YouTube regarding a little parody of the Lauren laptop hunter ad we posted (embeded below).

It was a bit of fun and our own little response to Microsoft’s campaign but we’ve been stunned by the comments left. Of over 11,000 views, 89 people have commented so far.

There’s been some nice feedback, like Pitbullninja’s “LOL this is freakin funny”, and there’s been some negative feedback like musicfreak190’s “macs﻿ are garbage… learn how to use a real computer”. It seems the Mac haters, as you would expect, dominate the comments but, strangely enough, the video has received an average 4/5 rating.

There are also a fair few comments we didn’t feel comfortable posting here, so be warned if you want to check out the video yourself.

So, while we know that there’ll always be a healthy rivalry between Mac and PC users, we now know that the adverts created by both companies are protected as vociferously by their faithful as the products they produce.

Needless to say, we’ll be putting together another parody pretty soon to spark some more debate!